What We Doing In 2023?

What’s up? I’m back. And a new year is a comin’! I just want to take this moment to thank God for allowing me to get ready to see another year 🙌🏾 Cause I got business to handle and that’s tackling my Goodreads TBR. That shit longer than a bitch 😗😖 I’m almost at 700 books and I’ve just been meaning to lower that number for some time now. I never want to get to a point where my GR TBR is bigger than my Read pile. So I’m trying to focus and work on that. 

My reading goal for next year is likely going to be 30. Some thangs have happened to me this year, at the age of 30, that I’m not trying to get into but I want to pay homage to this year by making it my reading goal for next year. This is a common thing I do every year. My reading goal number always has some significant meaning behind it. It’s been like this for me for 10 years.

I also bought an official reading journal from my job. Ayyyee!! It’s called 365 days of reading and it allows you to account for 365 books, one for each day. I can’t wait to commit to that bad boy. I’m going to keep it up to date cause the reading journaling I tried to do this year was a flop 😬

One of the first books I’m reading in January is Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth. I originally had this book on hold at work and wanted to read it but then I found out that Booktuber Reading Wryly created a book club and this book is now the first book being read for the year so that worked out perfectly. I’m trying to wrap up most of my reading this year so I can head into next year just reading that but that’s not going to be the case exactly. I’m always going to be reading some other book or books on the side. I read many books at once 🤗🤭

I also plan on making a list of 50 books to read this year (which is the first page of the 365 days of reading journal). Then I’m going to ignore that list until December 2023 to find out if I read or got to reading any of those books I put on that list. Not sure why I didn’t do this this year since I believe I did it the previous year but I’m going to have fun with it for next year.

And when it comes to writing… don’t even get me started 🙄 I’ll just say that my @ is michaliza on WattPad… come see me!

Okay… that’s enough of that. 

Type soon 😜✌🏾

End of the Year Book Tag

Wow, I can’t believe we’re at the end of the year (and I can’t believe my last post was back in June 😬 but that seems to be about on brand 😅). So I was watching Saajid’s newest video where he was talking about leaving Booktube for a little while and he did a end of year book tag and I thought, yeah, let me do that and talk to y’all about some books.

1.) Books You’ve Started But Haven’t Finished?

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Might have mentioned this book a time or two because I’ve been reading it since 2019 🙃 Don’t get me wrong, I am loving this book but at page 114 my mind has decided that the book is finished and over with and it’s a 5 star. I’m still trying to get my mind out of that mode.

• A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

Will I ever finish this book? Probably. Been reading this since 2015. I decide this year to start over and read it so I can continue on with the series. Made it passed where I last left on back in 2015 but I did eventually put it back down shortly after that. It isn’t keeping my attention as well as A Game of Thrones did but I’m definitely pushing through it so I can finish it before the year is over.

• Got to Be Real: Four Original Love Stories by Eric Jerome Dickey and 3 others

I’m working my way through Mr. Dickey’s catalog and this is where I’m at right now. Can’t wait to finish it and get back into reading his own novels. 

• I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

So I probably could just grab a physical copy of this book to borrow from my job but… I’ll just wait for the audiobook to become available to me again. So far my feelings on this book are very meh… it’s giving 3 stars and I probably could have gone my whole life not reading it.

2.) Autumnal Book to Transition into the End of the Year?

Still don’t know what y’all mean by this but… whatever. I live in Florida now and this fall time of the year is depressing me because it doesn’t hit the same like it does in NY. I very much miss the NY fall time, it was the best. I’m about to stop answering this question because it just never “does it” for me. I got nothing. I will say, though, that I’m currently reading Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski. 

3.) Is There a Book You Think Could Surprise You and Become a Favorite By the End of the Year?

I might have worded that a little different but… tomato, to-MAH-to. I’m actually gonna go with two, the one I’m currently reading like I mentioned above ☝🏾 and Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney. I decided to use my wheel of fortune generator and picked Rock Paper Scissors for one of the prompts (which was kind of redundant since I picked the book from the library and gonna read it regardless). And I’m just getting a good vibe and energy from the book. I’ve heard amazing things about it too and my expectations are high. I’ve never read a book by this author so… it would really suck if this was a disappointment 😂

4.) Three Books You Want to Read Before the End of the Year?

• Top Secret by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

Been meaning to read this for a while and found it on Libby, yay! Currently not liking the banter between the main love interests and wishing it would move along already with the first encounter and romance, awww!

• All of Junji Ito

Would love to be up to date on all his work. I believe I’ve read 4 of his stories so far this year. I’m currently reading Black Paradox and this one is creeping and grossing me out… which is a good thing.

• My Library Haul

Okay, this is more than 3 books but… it’s my answer. I got a bunch of books from 3 different libraries back in August and I still have them so you know what that means?? The library done blocked me again 😗✌🏾 So I gotta get a move on and read Passing by Nella Larsen, Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney, Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski, A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske, Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton, Real Life by Brandon Taylor, Near the Bone by Christina Henry, These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever and Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier (lowkey getting DNF vibezzz but shall continue for now). From the library pile I have decided to DNF Severance by Ling Ma because how am I still bored and uninterested 100 pages in 🙃🙃🙃 and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong because… I ain’t got time.

5.) Is There a New Release You’re Still Waiting For?

No. There never really is.

6.) Reading Plans For 2023?

Read more than I did in 2022 (I’m at 18 books so far).

Aiight, we done. Good chat. 

Type soon 😗

Wheel of TBR

Hey y’all, so my reading plans kind of changed… not by much. I currently am reading Game of Thrones and did start it in April like I planned but March didn’t go so well. In March I usually spend time rereading books but if I’m going to be honest with myself I haven’t had a good rereading month since 2018, 2019 may have also been okay but that’s it. I didn’t do this rereading challenge back in 2020 or 2021 but this year was kind of a flop. I reread two books and one of them probably wasn’t even necessary and another I’ve been wanting to reread for years and years cause I last read it 16 years ago! But it was kind of hard getting through it, I kind of wasn’t in the mood to read it once I got back into it and it slowed my reading down. But I got through them and quickly hopped into Game of Thrones which I hope to finish this week so I can get going on Clash of Kings. I’m trying to finish the books, rewatch the tv series so I can start the spin off show The House of the Dragon come August 🤩 That’s hitting pretty close but I’m sure my reading will fly by cause it’s a really good series and I’m a huge fan.

But I’ve decided that I won’t be continuing with rereading in the month of March, I just feel that it hindered my reading this year. So instead I will be implementing a “wheel of TBR”. I got the idea from cat chats on YouTube who was also inspired by other Booktubers. I have a total of 34 prompts so I’m always going to be reading something different and I’m so excited 🤩 about this. I’m currently about to start my first challenge prompt which is to read the oldest book on my TBR… and y’all… 🤦🏾‍♀️ it’s 120 Days of Sodom 😩😅 Well… guess I’ll finally be getting around to this one. See, I’m loving this wheel of TBR already, it got me reading a book that’s been on my TBR for 10 years 😂 I’ll put the link down below if you want to see it or adopt it 😇 

Type soon 😊

https://wheelofnames.com/kd8-t97

Reading Plans For The Year

Hey hey. I’m loving this book blogging thing, so I guess it’s better suited for me than booktubing. I’ve always been more of a writer (psst… I am on WattPad 😉). I mean, I was also a film student and I really love editing… I wanted to eventually edit movies but I digress.

Let’s talk about my reading plans for the rest of the year.

February:

For the rest of this month I’m going to continue reading my library books. Im not sure if they are all going to get read but this is what I’m working on. So this month I’m finishing “Not a Happy Family” by Shari Lapena (not liking it, I really don’t like the author’s writing style… never really have… she has such a bland way of writing). Then I will go on to read The Push by Ashley Audrain (I actually really liked Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage so I heard that this is a similar and better story), Bath Haus by P.J. Vernon, Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh and I may or may not get to Severance by Ling Ma.

March:

This is my month and what we’ve all been waiting for 🤩 (By “we’ve” I mean me 😅). March is the month where I reread books. It’s the only time of the year that I do this. It first started when I participated in the rereadathon back in 2017. It was a week long challenge… I vlogged about it on my booktube channel back then and it was created by Murphy Napier. I had the best time with the readathon back in 2018; it was one of the biggest highlights for me of that year. I haven’t done this challenge since 2019 I believe so I’m happy to finally get back into this tradition. Also… I no longer reread just for a week but for the whole month so now March went from my most hated month of the year to one of my favorites 😁 Some of the books I plan on rereading are:

She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb, Goodbye Janette by Harold Robbins, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, Fool’s Run by Patricia A. McKillip, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin just to name a few.

April:

Now April… I plan to start rereading A Game of Thrones within the last few days of March because in April I’m going to go into reading and finally completing the A Song of Ice and Fire Series (Game of Thrones series) by George R. R. Martin. I started the second book in the series back in 2016 but I never completed it. I own two editions of this series and it’s about time I complete it, so all of April I will be reading this series.

May-December:

So I figured that this next reading plan is going to last me until the end of the year. I need to read all of my books that I own. It’s only about 50 books but I have no interest in owning books that I haven’t read… I use my library and Libby for all of that and if I love the book then I buy it. I look forward to the day when the only books I own are ones that I’ve read and loved. Some of these books are:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, It by Stephen King, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid, And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, Campfire by Shawn Sarles, More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King just to name most of them.

I’m excited about these plans and it would be great if I completed them before the end of the year 😁

Type soon 🤩

JAN-uary Book Tag

Wow, didn’t realize that I hadn’t blogged at all in 2021. But it was a good year, btw. Moving on I suppose. 

Today I found the “JAN-uary Book Tag” on YouTube, created by Jan Agaton. I thought I’d try it because I liked the questions and January is my birthday month (I turned 30 😬)

1. What was the first and last book you read last year?

Good place to start at because I didn’t talk about any books I read last year on this blog 😅🤣 So I started the year with Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue which was a great start to the year; I gave the book 5 stars. The last book I read was a graphic novel called Fence, Vol. 4: Rivals by C.S. Pacat. I really enjoy this series, it’s so good!

2. What is your first read this year?

I finished one book so far this year which is alright and I’m not surprised by because my goal is 11 books this year. I didn’t complete my reading goal last year, I fell, like, 7 books behind schedule, so I want to take it easy on my reading goal but I do plan on reading more than 11 books. But the one book I finished so far this year was Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage and this was a little bit of a surprise. My expectations were low because I’ve mostly heard not so great reviews but I actually ended up enjoying this. I could not and did not want to put it down, it gripped me and had my attention from the start so it was a good way to start the new reading year.

3. Share 3 of your reading goals this year.

Goal 1: To reread tonsss of books in March. March is the month that I reread books but I haven’t done this since 2019, I believe, so this year is the year to do the most and reread some books that I haven’t read since 9th grade 😳

Goal 2: I work in a bookstore now (ayyee!) and I’m surrounded by all these good books day and night but the ones that catch my attention most are the nonfiction ones, especially the personal growth section. I really like nonfiction but I don’t read enough of it. I want to get back into reading nonfiction and to read quite a bit of it.

Goal 3: Not entirely sure but we’re going to go with this: read and finish the A Song of Ice and Fire series (or the Game of Thrones series). I read the first book years ago and gave it 5 stars (of course) and haven’t finished the second book or completed the series yet. I want to do this in April since I plan to reread A Game of Thrones in March. It’s all going to come together nicely *insert Patrick rubbing his starfish hands together*.

4. Share 3 of your most anticipated titles.

I’m going to be honest and say that I don’t like questions like these because I don’t keep up or look out for upcoming books or new releases so excuse me while I search the internet for the answer to this question…. Okay I’m back so first would be To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara (I haven’t even read A Little Life yet). I read the synopsis of this book at work one day and it sounded pretty darn good, I have faith in this author though I have yet to read anything by her. And… that’s it. Yeah, I don’t think I’ve found anything else this year so far that I’m on the look for. Sryyy.

5. Which goals did you reach/not reach last year?

Well for starters, I didn’t complete my reading goal which always sucks. I also didn’t complete my short story or upload some stories on my WattPad like I wanted to. I was going to work on that but it’s such a huge and daunting project that I just haven’t gotten around to completing. A goal that I reached was finally  working in a bookstore 😁

6. Are there new releases this year you’ve heard of that you have no desire to read?

Yeah… of course… plenty. Most of the ones that people talk about don’t interest me. So far from the ones I’ve heard of only To Paradise really interests me.

7. What are some reading habits you want to change this year?

I want to make more time to finishing books. I seem to spend forever on one book. I just want to read one book in under a week or so. I’m tired of books being 300 pages taking me 3 months to read 🙄

8. Are there any adaptations you’re excited about?

Ooooh, I don’t know… actually yes! Death on the Nile comes out in theaters soon and I can’t wait to go see it. I haven’t read the book and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to read it before the movie comes out because I’m currently on hold through the library but still excited about this.

9. Favorite bookish memory of last year?

I moved to Florida from New York back in July and it was the best time, definitely the biggest highlight of 2021. During the time I was reading Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi and holy hell was that something. I still think about this book to this day… it has stayed with me. It is the best book I read last year, it’s an impressive work that I think should be required reading. The story spans 300 years but the book is 300 pages! 🙌🏾 It’s also a heavy read but damn is it beautiful and good. I was reading that book and listening to the audiobook first thing in the morning, out in the summer sun, sitting on my balcony while drinking water to get my body ready for the day. It was awesome.

10. Carryovers from last year that you still plan on finishing?

Not all from last year cause some of these books are from previous years that I’m still reading but they are Liar’s Game by Eric Jerome Dickey (I’m enjoying the writing but I really can’t get into the story. I don’t plan on DNFing but I need to make time to finish this.), The Secret History by Donna Tartt (This book is already sitting at 5 stars for me but I can’t get this book to become available at my library 😩 I’m just about to end up buying it in a minute and I, like, never buy books 😅) and The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis (Started this late last year and did not want to put it down, it had me right from the start. But it has hit a dry patch… still plan on finishing it cause I’m still interested but this needs to get finished as well.)

And that will do it. Thanks for reading.

Type soon 😏